Archive for the ‘Consumer activism’ Category

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Scam call from “Mitchell Communications Group”

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Got a scam call today I wanted to let other people know about.

The caller ID was “Gorden Leslie” with the phone number 773-891-5581. Here’s a transcript of the message:

Hi, this is Patrick calling from Mitchell Communications Group. I have made numerous attempts to reach you [lie!] regarding an entry form that was filled out in your name within the last 12 to 18 months to receive a new car. [probable lie!] This will be my final attempt to notify that your name was pulled and you’re going to receive one of our top four major prizes. It would be in your best interest to give me a call back as soon as possible. The number is toll free at 1-877-279-3457 extension 243. We’re not a telemarketing agency [lie!] or a timeshare and this is not a cold call so please do not ignore this message. I’m very aware of the do not call list so I wouldn’t be calling unless you actually entered. [lie!] This is a time sensitive matter I do look forward to hearing from you. Once again congratulations my name is Patrick.

Just for kicks, I called back and was connected to a woman who identified herself as “Rhonda, your prize coordinator.”

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Posted in Consumer activism, Fraud | 14 Comments »

Winters Plumbing disappoints

Friday, August 6th, 2010

I posted a while back about a bogus “free safety inspection” Winters Plumbing convinced us to have, where “safety inspection” actually meant “excuse for one of our plumbers to get into your house so he can try to convince you to buy all kinds of stuff you don’t need.

I also mentioned in that posting how the plumber who did the “inspection” quoted us a price of $238 to replace a broken toilet handle, a job that takes less than ten minutes and requires a part that costs less than $5 and is stocked all the time by pretty much every plumber.

Scott Adams says that human beings are “rationalization machines.” I’m sure I’m as guilty of that as the next guy, but I try to be aware of when I’m rationalizing. I have suspected for quite a while that I was giving Winters the benefit of the doubt more than they deserved. I hired them to replace our heating system for a higher price than some of the other companies quoted because they seemed more reputable and trustworthy than the others. I wanted to believe that decision was the correct one. I don’t think I can maintain that delusion any longer.

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Posted in Boston, Consumer activism | 2 Comments »

IsraelSims.com update

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

Today’s update (maybe the last?) in the IsraelSims.com saga…

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IsraelSims.com update

Friday, July 30th, 2010

Today’s update in the IsraelSims.com saga…

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Posted in Consumer activism, Fraud, Israel | 2 Comments »

Today’s IsraelSims.com update

Thursday, July 29th, 2010

Here’s today’s update on the suffering inflicted upon my family by IsraelSims.com:

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Posted in Consumer activism, Fraud, Israel | 1 Comment »

Buyer beware: IsraelSims.com

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

Do not do business with IsraelSims.com unless you enjoy being ignored, misled and lied to, and you think it’s OK for the SIM cards you ordered for your trip to Israel not to arrive until after you’ve already left.

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Yet another positive ZipCar experience

Sunday, July 25th, 2010

On Monday, July 12, I rented a ZipCar for an hour to go grocery shopping. During the half hour I was in the store, some asshole thief put a grapefruit-sized dent in the bumper of the ZipCar and drove off without leaving any contact information.

I called ZipCar immediately on my cell phone. The rep with whom I spoke first verified that everyone was OK and then went through the “customer was in an accident” script quickly, efficiently, and politely. I received email within minutes of our phone call telling me everything I needed to know and do. It was all quite reasonable.

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Posted in Boston, Consumer activism, Driving etiquette | No Comments »

Rec: discountmugs.com

Saturday, July 24th, 2010

(click for a larger view)

Our family is celebrating my oldest daughter’s bat mitzvah in Israel this summer in a somewhat non-traditional way. She chose the David and Goliath story as the text for her bat mitzvah study project, and she will be giving a presentation on what she has learned followed by a tour of the Elah Valley, where the battle took place. You don’t take a busload of people into the Judean hills in the middle of the summer without having enough water for everyone, and we decided a neat way to accomplish that would be to give souvenir water bottles to our guests.

The design to be printed on the bottles was produced by Deb Houben, who also did our invitations. She’s a fabulous artist and a fabulous graphic designer, and if you need some design work done, you should definitely drop her a line (more info here).

We turned to Google, of course, to find a company to produce the water bottles for us. We ended up at discountmugs.com, which has a huge selection of all different kinds of water bottles at reasonable prices and with easy, straightforward ordering. We ordered our bottles from them after business hours on July 15, and they arrived July 23. I was able to easily watch their progress of our order through a tracking page on their Web site. The end result is exactly what we wanted.

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Posted in Consumer Activism Hall of Fame, Consumer activism | No Comments »

Citizens Bank promises, doesn’t deliver, $50 promotional credit to me and presumably many others

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

July 23, 2010

Lawrence Fish
Executive Chairman
RBS Citizens, N.A.
1 Citizens Plaza
Providence, RI 02903-1344

Dear Mr. Fish,

Please find enclosed a complaint about your institution which I just filed with the office of the Attorney General of Massachusetts.

You promised me a $50 promotional credit and then never paid it. I spent almost 25 minutes on the phone with your customer service department today trying to get this resolved, only to be told at the end that it would be “researched” and it might take another two months before I am paid what I am owed, if indeed I am paid at all.

When I asked for this to be confirmed in writing, the representative with whom I was speaking said this was not possible. I had to escalate to a supervisor, Ana, who assured me that I would receive a confirmation letter within 7-10 days. Why I had to escalate to a supervisor just to receive such a letter is beyond me. It remains to be seen whether I will actually receive the letter I was promised, or for that matter the $50.

I would like to know what you are going to do to ensure that every single person who was entitled to the $50 promotional credit receives it. Promising a promotional credit which you then fail to pay is unfair, deceptive, and fraudulent. Are you going to let that stand or take steps to remedy it?

Sincerely,

Jonathan Kamens

encl: copy of complaint to Massachusetts Attorney General

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Yad Sarah: Good work, bad fundraising

Monday, July 12th, 2010

I periodically post about organizations which can’t handle one of these two simple requests: (1) don’t spam me; (2) don’t send me junk mail. If an organization is incapable of implementing effective policies and procedures to accommodate these two straightforward requests from donors, they are probably also incapable of implementing effective, efficient policies and procedures for doing the work for which donors are sending them money.

I’ve had run-ins of varying magnitude about this with numerous organizations over the years. The ones that I post about here are the worst of the worst. They have either overtly refused to accommodate my requests, or claimed repeatedly, but falsely, that they had done so.

Today, I am forced to add Yad Sarah to this disreputable bunch. I am sorry to do this, because the work Yad Sarah claims to do is important, and because they appear to be respected by other organizations which I respect and tend to trust. However, after my experience with them, I must wonder how efficiently and effectively they use the money entrusted to them by donors to perform their mission.

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Posted in Charity, Computers, Consumer activism, Internet, Israel, Junk mail, Spam | No Comments »

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